1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food banding apparatus, and more particularly, to an improved apparatus for use in the banding of broccoli, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The handling of irregularly shaped foodstuffs, such as broccoli, presents many problems in that they must be bunched, trimmed, and tied together in some manner before being ready for market. Traditionally, these operations have been performed by hand.
In order to make the process of readying such vegetables as broccoli for market, it has been proposed to mechanize the trimming operations. In one apparatus proposed for such purpose, cup-like bins are provided for supporting the heads of bunches of broccoli. Mounted on the front of each of these bins are two pivotally mounted arms, a first of which is held open by a return spring and the second of which is held open by an overcenter spring connected to the first arm. The bins are carried around an endless loop by a motor driven chain. After an operator loads one of the bins with broccoli, the bin is driven over a plate which camingly engages the first arm so as to overcome the bias of the overcenter spring and cause the arms to close over the stems of the broccoli and hold them in place while a saw trims the ends of the stalks. Once trimmed, however, a worker must still place a band over the stalks.
An example of a device intended for facilitating hand operated banding of such elongated fruit and vegetables as bananas, celery, asparagus, and the like, can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,660, issued Apr. 21, 1959, to H. P. Denton. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,762, issued Aug. 17, 1976, to E. K. Kita, et al., discloses apparatus for disposing elastic bands on a fixture in preparation for banding of produce bunches by closing an elastic band manually placed on the fixture when the bunch is inserted into the fixture so as to displace a movable platform forming a bottom of the apparatus.
It has furthered been proposed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,391, issued June 20, 1978, to B. E. Anguiano, to provide broccoli bunching apparatus which includes a plurality of buckets driven around a first endless loop. Each bucket has a head supporting portion for supporting the head of a bunch of broccoli, and a U-shaped stalk support for supporting broccoli stalks and for carrying a tie band. A plurality of U-shaped clamps which are driven in synchronization with the buckets around a second endless loop disposed above and behind the stalk supports compressingly hold a bunch of broccoli stalks against a corresponding stalk support while a saw trims the stocks. As in the apparatus discussed above, however, once the stocks are trimmed, workers must manually arrange the tied bands over the ends of the stalks.
Finally, it has been proposed to band bundles of fruit or vegetables, and the like, by apparatus such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,371, issued June 4, 1968, to H. L. Farmer, et al., that comprises a frame on which is mounted an expander assembly including a plurality of arms which swing toward and away from one another about horizontal axes. When swung away from one another, the arms will expand an elastic band arranged on them and permit a bundle which is to be banded to be inserted into the expanded band. Once the bundle is disposed within the expanded band, the arms can be swung back toward one another so as to cause the elastic band to grippingly embrace the bundle. A principal drawback with this approach is that a worker can operate only one device, or work station, inasmuch as the worker must take bundles one at a time and place them between the expanded arms, hold the bundle in place until the arms are retracted, and then withdraw the banded bundle from between the arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,631, issued Feb. 26, 1963, to S. Seserman, discloses an elastic banding device having provision for applying an elastic band about an article or group of articles placed within a frame on which a supply of elastic bands have been stretched and stored. Provision is made for releasing successive foremost ones of the stretched elastic bands so as to constrict about an article or articles being banded.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,236,936, issued Apr. 1, 1941, to W. W. Camp, discloses a device for applying elastic bands in which the bands are arranged on a spool member vertically disposed over an article to be banded. The lowermost of the bands is selectively removed from the spool member and placed on an article or articles being banded by action of a pair of swinging fingers which engage the band and move same over a pair of cooperating guides and over the article or articles disposed below the spool member. Further, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,393,633 and 3,186,333, issued July 23, 1968, and June 1, 1965, to H. R. Hoffman, et al., disclose an apparatus and method in which a plurality of partially formed elastic bands are retained in the shape of a sleeve or tube by an uncut strip along one side of the bands. The lowermost partially-cut band of the tube is engaged by an advancing blade which causes that band to be disengaged from the remaining bands and to be pivoted downwardly and rearwardly with respect to the vertically disposed tube, with the uncut portion of the band serving as a hinge or pivot point until the band is passed over a plurality of expanders which are disposed closely adjacent to one another in a horizontal line beneath the lowermost band being pivoted. Now, the expander fingers can be shifted apart and moved downwardly and outwardly so as to expand the band they engage and simultaneously cause the band to be torn from the aforementioned tube.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,732,115, issued Jan. 24, 1956, to H. G. Allen, and 4,127,978, issued Dec. 5, 1978, to F. Lucke, disclose devices intended for arranging non-elastic bands on bottle necks and balls of yarn, and the like, and which employ movable fingers that engage the band to facilitate the placement. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,115, a flattened band is initially opened by asserting opposing tangential forces on the flat sides of the band.